County Cricket Round-Up - 6th September

Warwickshire were crowned LV= County Champions a little after lunch on third day at New Road as they bowled Worcestershire out for 209 in their second innings to win by an innings and 202 runs. Chris Wright took the last three wickets to fall to end with figures of four for 65, while Keith Barker and Boyd Rankin took two each today. Full story

Nottinghamshire need 347 to win on the final day at The Oval having bowled Surrey out for 304 in their second innings. Spinners Graeme White and Sam Wood shared seven Surrey wickets between them as Zander de Bruyn and Gary Wilson both made half-centuries and added 90 for the sixth-wicket.

An interesting final day is also in store at Hove, where Somerset closed on 155 for four in pursuit of 396 to win. Marcus Trescothick and Arul Suppiah had added 147 for the first-wicket, but Steve Magoffin struck three times just before the close after Monty Panesar had bowled Trescothick for 71. Murray Goodwin had earlier fallen 23 runs short of a farewell century in what could be his last match for Sussex as they were all out for 308 in their second innings. Alfonso Thomas ended with five for 68.

A draw looks the likely result at Lord’s as Middlesex closed on 129 for two in their second innings after finally bowling Lancashire out for 448 in their first. Karl Brown top-scored with 78 for the visitors, while Gareth Cross hit 59 off only 35 balls to help them claim an important fourth batting bonus point. Slow left-arm spinner Ravi Patel ended with figures of four for 126 from 35 overs.

Yorkshire went up to second in Division Two after wrapping up victory over Glamorgan with a day to spare at Headingley. They bowled the visitors out for just 182 in their second innings to set themselves a none-too-challenging target of 111. Steven Patterson ended with four wickets for Yorkshire, while Adam Lyth hit 50 in the run chase as they won by eight wickets.

Gloucestershire remain at the foot of Division Two in spite of recording a comprehensive 207-run win over Northamptonshire on the third day at Bristol. Liam Norwell took five for 51 to help bowl the visitors out for 224 after they had been set 432 to win by dismissing the home side for 311 in the morning. David Sales and Andrew Hall both hit half-centuries in Northamptonshire’s run chase, but they were all out for 224 to fall comfortably short.

Derbyshire endured a frustrating third day against Kent at Canterbury. First they had to overcome their displeasure at England off-spinner James Tredwell being allowed to replace Adam Riley despite initially being told that he wouldn’t be able to do so; and then they had to watch Kent rack up 342 for eight in their second innings prior to declaring. Sam Northeast scored a large proportion of those runs, falling 11 short of his highest first-class score in making 165, while Brendan Nash (62) and Mike Powell (56 not out) both passed 50. The visitors then lost Wayne Madsen to the fourth ball of their run chase and closed on 30 for one in pursuit of 404 to win. Tredwell bowled five overs without conceding a run.

Hampshire look destined to fail in pursuit of the victory which would help them considerably in their promotion quest as they closed on 73 for three after being set 427 to win by Essex. Ryan ten Doeschate and James Foster had backed up Owais Shah’s century yesterday with a pair of brisk of half-centuries today as Essex were bowled out for the formidable second innings total of 475.

Weather Forecast: Tomorrow will be another dry and mostly sunny day. The northern half of England and Wales may cloud over in the afternoon, but temperatures will remain mild and peak at between 19 and 25 degrees Celsius.

County News In Brief:Warwickshire all-rounder Neil Carter has spoken of his desire to play international cricket for Scotland in the near future. Carter was born in South Africa, but his mother was born in Scotland. He is targeting a One-Day International against Australia next year as a possible debut fixture.

Durham have given fast-bowler Liam Plunkett permission to speak to other counties. The club have been penalised for breaching the ECB’s salary cap and have been fined £2500, and will be docked 2.5 points in the LV= County Championship and a quarter of a point each in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and Friends Life t20 standings for next season.

Robert Croft has, as expected, announced his retirement from professional cricket. He will now work in a coaching and ambassadorial role at Glamorgan. Croft said, “It’s finally dawning on me that my career is coming to an end. I’m pleased to end my career with a home match against Kent at the SWALEC next week, but when I walk up those stairs for the last time as a player, I will be emotional, there’s sure to be a tear in my eye.”

Middlesex have either signed or re-signed four players. Joe Denly has penned a new three-year deal, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2015 season, while Tom Smith has signed a one-year contract extension. Ravi Patel has decided to forgo his course at Loughborough University and has signed a two-year deal, while Nick Gubbins has graduated from an Academy contract to a three-year summer one. He starts a course at Leeds University next month.

According to the BBC, Northamptonshire are interested in signing Surrey all-rounder Matthew Spriegel for next season. The 25 year-old is out of contract at The Oval at the end of this season.

Yorkshire have completed the signing of Sussex wicket-keeper Andrew Hodd on a two-year deal. Hodd is currently on-loan at the club following the departure of Gerard Brophy.